MHD equilibrium in toroidal systems with a helical magnetic axis

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5344241

Koniges, A E

An asymptotic model based on the the stellarator expansion is developed to study MHD equilibria in toroidal systems with a helical magnetic axis. The ordering of the vacuum fields is based on the assumptions that the plasma radius is small with respect to the periodicity length of the helical axis, which is in turn small with respect to the toroidal circumference. The effects of plasma pressure are included. A characteristic coordinate system based on the lowest-order vacuum field lines is introduced. In this coordinate system, the equilibrium problem is reduced to a two-dimensional generalized partial differential equation of the Grad-Shafranov type. A stellarator expansion free-boundary equilibrium code is modified to solve the helical axis equations. The expansion model is used to predict the equilibrium properties of two representative stellarators, Asperator NP-3 and NP-4. Numerically determined flux surfaces, magnetic well, transform, and shear are presented. The equilibria show a toroidal Shafranov shift, and high-..beta.. values are achieved.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5344241
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700105* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Plasma Kinetics-Theoretical-- (-1987)
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
EQUILIBRIUM PLASMA
FLUID MECHANICS
GRAD-SHAFRANOV EQUATION
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
HYDRODYNAMICS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA
PLASMA PRESSURE
PRESSURE EFFECTS
STELLARATORS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES